Iraqi national team coach Graham Arnold confirmed that participating in the friendly King of Thailand Cup was aimed at achieving a clear goal, which is to face a strong team that resembles Indonesia, Iraq's next competitor in the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

Arnold said in the press conference preceding the match:

"I thank everyone for the invitation; from the beginning, our goal was to play two strong matches, and facing Thailand is a very important experience before the qualifiers, as it will give us a real opportunity to test the team against a competitor similar to Indonesia, and even higher in ranking."

He added: "The tournament's format required us to play two matches within 72 hours, and this is very important as it closely resembles the atmosphere of the Asian playoff matches, so we are focusing on the players' mentality and their response to such circumstances."

He explained: "Statistics do not lie; against Hong Kong, we shot 24 times, and despite trailing in the score, we quickly came back and dominated the match, and the best thing that happened was that we fell behind with the first goal, because the team's character became clear after that."

He pointed out: "We have been working on the defensive aspect in the past period, but now we are focusing more on the offensive side and utilizing the players' skills, and this was clearly evident in the tournament."

He continued: "Striker Ayman Hussein is fully ready, and what happened to him was just a minor strain, and players Majed and Kevin Yacoub performed well, and this tournament has given us the opportunity to test new faces and assess the levels of all team members."